Sleeping on a narrow strip of beaten down/dried up grass
between two road ways is perhaps not the best place to get a good night's
sleep. On the other hand it was immeasurably better than walking around a Husky
truck stop for 7-8 hours so I was not complaining. I got up just as the sun was
rising and went through the usual morning rituals of stuffing my sleeping bag
and bevy sack back into their respective bags, getting dressed, brushing my
hair and in general trying to look near respectable for my public. And as
always, in spite of the vehicles passing by, no one made any comments or in
fact gave any signs that they even noticed me. I use the convenience store's
bathroom, brushed my teeth, made sure that my shirt was tucked in and hiked back to the highway. I
was really hoping that I would catch some early morning commuter who wanted to
get to Vancouver quickly. I eventually did much better than that.
There were not as many cars getting onto the highway as I
had anticipated. On other times I have
stood at a similar exit on the outskirts of Kamloops and got a ride quickly -
here I had to wait for almost an hour. But perhaps that was a good thing....I
may have need that much time to properly wake up. I had debated getting
something to eat at the Wendy's attached to the convenience store but I decided
that there was nothing there that I wanted.
In hindsight so tea would have been nice and perhaps even useful.
Finally a vehicle stopped, I threw in my pack in the back
seat and jump in the front. One of the first things my driver said to me was
that he and his wife and seen me the previous afternoon and he had wondered then
if he would see me on the road somewhere. I wish he had invited me to sleep on
his front lawn - it would have saved me the hassle of sleeping at the
Petro-Canada. The best news of the day (although it was pretty early in the
day) was that my driver was going to Nanaimo - which meant I had a drive right
to the ferry! That felt pretty good. The second best news of the day was that
my driver was a great conversationalist, he had a job that I had never even
considered anyone doing and he was a very nice guy. Who could ask for anything
more?
Bob built bridges. More specifically he worked with a crew
who built/repaired the bridges over the rivers and creeks on logging roads. I
had probably driven over some of the bridges he had built. I had never thought
about the amount of skill it would take to make something that could support
the weight of those massive log trucks loaded with green timber. It was an
interesting conversation and in comparison to one of my previous drivers, I
appreciated the sense of team work and camaraderie that Bob talked about. He
had a genuine respect for his bosses and fellow workers. I don't think it was always a
fun job, and I am sure that there were times when it was sheer drudgery but he
made it sound as if at the end of each project they all felt good about each
other. Nice. While a lot of our conversation during the four and half hour
drive focused on the bridge building, we wandered through a range of other
topics including relationships (Bob had, according to him, a great partner)
previous lives where at least one of us had made questionable choices, the
driving habits of others and how fortunate we were to live in such a great
place.
There are times when I am with a driver where it feels as if
the driver is at best, tolerating me and my lifestyle. We get along just fine,
have a great conversation but there is a sense that the driver just does not "get
me". I am not too sure if Bob "got me", but he clearly had no
desire to judge me. It was a good drive, one that I would gladly do again.
We got to the ferry terminal, had to wait for an hour or so
for the next ferry, got on - I bought him breakfast, we chatted some more and
then as we got near to Nanaimo, we shook hands and went our separate ways -he
to his car and then to head north, me to the terminal and hopefully a Greyhound
bus to Duncan.
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